Chapter 663: The Heart of Man

The princes present were unable to believe that such an aura could emanate from a single person. ?Zhang Lie was still charging up for his attack, but it almost looked as though his attack had already landed.

The skies were trembling, the earth shaking, the wind roaring—it felt as though the heavens themselves were impressing their authority on the realm.

The crown prince's eyes widened. "The ninth prince has truly found an imposing master..."

The guards were all shaken. "Who could this be? Who could boast such strength?"

The entire camp shook—everything swayed but in one location, the king of the realm's golden tent.

Finally, as the energy Zhang Lie gathered up reached a critical threshold, he released it in what was purportedly a technique but which seemed to have reached an entirely new level of strength.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" The sea devoured everything in sight. The heavens seemed to lose their color, and an oppressive silence descended on the realm.

A tsunami devoured the peak-grade horde, vanquishing them as though they had never existed.

The hunting grounds were scoured into flat, featureless land as the troops' morale rose greatly.

[You successfully killed a peak-grade ghoul of heaven and earth. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade ghoul of heaven and earth, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a peak-grade void leopard. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade void leopard, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a peak-grade flamegold mountain lion. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade flamegold mountain lion, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

Zhang Lie's one punch had cleaned up a hundred peak-grade lifeforms, dramatically decreasing the burden that the guards around him had to bear.

The crown prince lifted his sword and held it high. "An alien hero has helped us in this time of crisis—my fellow warriors, we can't lose out to them! Charge! Charge, in the name of our homeland!"

Reckless though it might seem, the crown prince's decision was the correct one. If the troops were to remain on the defensive, they would eventually be forced back by the peak-grade lifeforms.

The troops didn't have much of their strength remaining, but the peak-grade lifeforms coming at them seemed endless. Now that Zhang Lie had turned the tides of battle—even if for just a moment—the crown prince had to take this opportunity to try to magnify that advantage, even at risk to his life.

The crown prince led the charge himself, a lone man and his sword against a tide of beasts. With brute force, he beheaded a peak-grade lifeform, then ran toward the next without even looking back.

Seeing their fearless leader in action, the troops' morale rose greatly. "Charge! Follow the crown prince's lead!"

The masked Jindao fighter frowned. Zhang Lie's unexpected appearance was on the verge of derailing their plans. He looked toward the second prince, but the second prince said nothing.

The Jindao fighter was certain that, no matter what happened next, the second prince wouldn't call off this plan.

"Look!" the second prince hissed, pointing at Zhang Lie. "That likely had to be that man's full strength—he's not making any further moves!"

Whereas the crown prince and his men had gone charging forward, Zhang Lie was leisurely sitting down and setting up a spit on which he could roast meat.

The Jindao disagreed with the second prince's judgment: this didn't look like a man who was entirely out of energy. On the other hand, he was simply too lazy to keep fighting.

"Move!" the second prince shouted, following the crown prince into the distance.

He had to admit to himself that he wouldn't have been as decisive and bold as the crown prince; that difference between the two of them made him even more jealous, even more certain that the crown prince had to die.

.

The Jindao fighter stayed where he was. After some time, he slowly made his way toward the king of the realm's golden tent.

The crown prince had succeeded in his endeavor. Despite facing nigh-insurmountable odds, he had endowed his troops with a vision of victory. He, who had been nurtured by the king of the realm as his next successor, was an impressive prince.

If nothing untoward were to happen, the crown prince would successfully kill the remaining peak-grade lifeforms and reach a new level of renown, one which would cement his position as the crown prince—and the king of the realm's successor.

The crown prince was so qualified that others couldn't help but be envious of him; he might not have been a natural ruler, but the king of the realm had molded him to be his most suitable successor.

The crown prince was overjoyed by success. He turned around and called out, "Second brother, I'll leave the rear to you. Take this opportunity that the ninth prince's master has given us to clear out these beas—"

A sword slid into the crown prince's chest from the back and penetrated through his front, with such strength that it annihilated the king of the realm's protection. The crown prince's eyes widened.

"Why?" He forced out that one word with trembling lips and quivering voice. "Why, second... brother?"

The crown prince knew how cruel the succession of kings could be, but his father had stabilized it all during his long reign. He knew that the ninth prince had suffered an assassination attempt, but surely that was something that could never have happened to him. He knew the other princes all wanted to get rid of him, but also that they would never try something like this in the public eye—or would they?

How could the second prince dare to strike him down with so many eyewitnesses around? It was meaningless—he could never hope to gain the throne this way, unless...